About two years after cashing in on Common Music Group (UMG) with an IPO, French conglomerate Vivendi is reportedly pondering the sale of its See Tickets subsidiary.
The most recent divestment plans of the Paris-headquartered enterprise, which over the summer time inked a deal to dump publishing firm Editis, entered the media highlight in a report from Sky Information. And whereas execs haven’t publicly confirmed or denied the rumored exploration of a selloff – the method is reportedly anticipated to provoke “imminently” – the frequently sturdy income of stay occasions and ticketing is hardly a secret.
Stateside, Reside Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary have largely dominated associated headlines, with higher-ups having touted April, Could, and June of this yr as their enterprise’s “strongest second quarter ever.” (The reported income soar has been accompanied by a number of lawsuits, ample criticism, and different less-than-encouraging developments, nonetheless.)
However based on Vivendi’s H1 2023 earnings breakdown, See Tickets has additionally been increasing amid the post-pandemic occasions increase. Vivendi Village, the conglomerate’s ticketing and festivals division, generated €81 million (at the moment $85.09 million) throughout 2023’s opening six months, the suitable doc exhibits, up about 6.5 p.c from H1 2022.
See Tickets itself accounted for about 70 p.c of the determine, per the identical evaluation, with 19 million tickets bought throughout H1 2023 (up from 15 million throughout H1 2022).
“Within the first half of 2023,” the Gameloft dad or mum drove house, “Vivendi Village returned to constructive EBITA of €7 million [$7.35 million] (in comparison with a lack of €3 million [$3.15 million] within the first half of 2022) due to the sturdy development of See Tickets, the cessation of its live performance manufacturing actions, and the repositioning of its festivals.”
Again to the aforementioned Sky report, nameless sources with data of the matter are mentioned to have acknowledged that See Tickets, however the above-described development, is unable to provide well-entrenched gamers like Reside Nation and AEG a run for his or her cash.
In any occasion, as described by the identical nameless sources, the potential divestment would prolong to Vivendi Village’s See Tickets and its 11 festivals (amongst them Love Supreme and Garorock), however to not the operation’s L’Olympia and L’Oeuvre venues or its 18 cinemas and live performance venues in Africa.
Value highlighting in conclusion is that the Broccoli Metropolis Competition stakeholder Reside Nation’s been on one thing of an acquisition spree so far in 2023, shopping for Hong Kong’s Clockenflap (the 2023 version of which is scheduled for December), Colombia’s Páramo Presenta, and others.